by Brenda Trim
“Too bad it wasn’t your spit,” he winked at her, yearning to take her into his arms. Their eyes locked. The minute hitch in her breath had his heart pounding in his ears. She felt their connection, too. A smile curved his lips as her mind began detailing what she wanted to do with him. He felt the little control he had mustered slipping away.
“I, uh, have to go check on orders,” she stammered before she hurried to the window of food.
As much as he wanted to stay, he needed to leave. He waited to stand up, willing his erection to lessen. No such luck, it wasn’t going anywhere. He zipped his jacket closed and threw down all the money from his pocket, which turned out to be several hundred dollars, as her tip, then headed for Elsie.
She was at one of the computers. He grasped her hands and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “I will see you tomorrow night.” Leaving her standing there with her mouth agape, he headed for the door of the pub.
He would join his brothers on patrol and hopefully relieve some pent-up frustration until her shift was over. Then he planned to watch her from the trees near her apartment.
From Vampire King to stalker, how the mighty had fallen.
*****
Blood dripped from Zander’s arm as he gripped a skirm by his hair. He punched the shit out of the guy, and damn, did it feel good. He hated these motherfuckers. They had robbed him and those he loved of so much, and he’d be damned if he allowed them to take any more. He kicked out hard and was rewarded for his efforts by a cry of pain. Gerrick and Rhys had joined Zander and his brothers in the fight.
“Get those sons of bitches!” Kyran yelled. He was on the ground and a skirm had his teeth locked on one of his calves.
“Two got away,” Zander grunted, punching the scum-bag he was holding in the kidney. The guy had spun around and ripped into his forearm. The second the venom reached his bloodstream burning pain almost put him on his knees.
“Arsehole.” He slipped his sgian dubh between the skirm’s ribs and let go when he flashed on fire, becoming ash.
He looked over and saw that Gerrick had punched his enemy in the head one last time before grabbing the titanium blade from the small of his back. Quick and efficient, he pierced the guy through the heart. A sweep of Gerrick’s boot scattered the remains and as the ashes of his kill were swept away in the breeze, the sorcerer took off running, muttering a tracking spell which would allow them to follow the trail all skirm left behind.
Rhys dispatched the minion he held and began running after Gerrick. “C’mon, let’s follow the baby-poop-road,” the cambion threw over his shoulder.
Zander cracked a smile at the irreverent warrior’s description of the magical path the spell illuminated. Fucking Rhys.
“Goddess, this shite burns”, Bhric complained as he examined a bite wound on his shoulder. Zander could attest to how painful the injuries were and how they left scars. The one on his forearm didn’t need stitches, but right now, hurt like hell.
Skirm bites took longer for humans and supernaturals to heal because of the demon venom in their saliva. Normally, supernaturals healed at an accelerated rate, the exceptions being wounds made by silver and skirm bites.
“We all have injuries, but have no time for that now. Let’s go,” Zander lifted his arm to show a huge tear of his flesh where the skirm had ripped into his arm. “I can’t wait until the scientists can figure out how to counteract this venom.”
“Och, you’re like wee bairns, with all the crying. That’s nothing. Stop bitching and start moving, Jace will bandage your boo-boos when we get home. Dawn is coming arseholes, so hurry the fuck up,” Kyran snapped back as he limped down the alley towards his Denali. Zander knew the guy liked pain, but damn, he had a hunk of flesh hanging off his calf. He shook his head, glad Kyran was on their side.
*****
Yanking a makeshift belt fashioned from a scarf through her belt loops, Elsie cursed the emptiness and the painful ache of the black hole that tortured her constantly. She poked at her visible ribs, grateful that her sister wasn’t there to scold her. She had lived on energy drinks and little else for longer than she could recall.
Her thoughts went to Zander while she did her hair and applied the only make-up she typically wore, mascara. He had come into her life like a whirlwind and drove her to the point of insanity. Her body reacted every time she so much as thought about him. If she saw him or heard that sexy Scottish accent of his, forget it, she was done.
His gruff exterior was misleading. At first she thought of him as an autocratic jackass. Correction, he was an autocratic asshole, but he was one of the most thoughtful and giving persons she’d ever met. Not only had he given her presents, he had left her an obscene tip two nights in a row. Now, she had more than enough money for rent that month, as well as the next two. Everything he had done was making her life better in some way. He wanted more from her, yet he had never pushed her on the subject. Guys like him were rare and he was slowly and methodically chipping away at the ice surrounding her heart. It was scary and overwhelming.
She didn’t want to want him. She made a vow to Dalton when she married him to love him forever. She had joined SOVA to exact revenge for what was done to Dalton. She’d been using the guilt her desire evoked to keep the distance between them. Her will was slowly crumbling, and it broke her heart. She couldn’t keep her vows and be with Zander, too. She found herself wanting Zander beyond anything she’d ever wanted before.
Shaking her head, she pulled on her black boots and left her apartment. There was too much running through her head and hoped she could force it out before she encountered any skirm. Being this distracted on patrol wasn’t wise. She jumped into her beater and headed to meet Mack.
A loud ringing had her fumbling through her worn, black backpack to answer the call before it went to voicemail. That fateful night had left her with a phobia of voicemail messages. She grabbed the phone and quickly flipped it open. Placing it to her ear, she rushed out, “Hello.”
“Hey, cupcake, how’s it going? I stopped by with a key lime pie. Where are you?” She smiled at Orlando’s familiar voice. She could imagine him running his hands through his white-blonde hair making it stand up. They had become close, and she enjoyed their easy rapport. He was the brother she never had.
“I’m actually on my way to meet a friend. Next time.” She hated lying to the men who had become her friends. Keeping secrets felt wrong.
“Is your friend single? I don’t mind joining you guys.” She had to laugh at his response, so magnanimous of him.
“She is single, but not your type at all. She would eat you for breakfast, buddy. Besides, no boys are allowed. It’s girls only tonight.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing. Have fun, but be careful and don’t do anything stupid. I’d hate to arrest you,” he teased.
“I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. And, don’t forget that you are my get-out-of-jail-free-card. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She flipped the phone closed and tossed it on the passenger seat.
Her car sputtered and coughed out a cloud of black smoke as she sped through the next stop light. The wheel started shuddering under her palms. “Don’t you even think of dying on me right now,” she cursed the car. Saying a quick prayer she kept motoring along. The shimmies overtook the car next and it seemed as it the whole thing would fall apart. Slowing her speed didn’t help matters at all and when she tried to speed up the car jolted and a loud clanging noise sounded before the engine cut out.
“No, no, no. Not right now,” she pleaded. She tried to maneuver the vehicle across the lanes of traffic to pull over. After pissing off most of Seattle she made it to the side of the road and turned the key. The car didn’t make a noise. It was well and truly dead. She laid her head down on the steering wheel and looked out into traffic. What was she going to do now?
Mack was waiting for her at the park. Good thing she used to take the bus daily to and from work and school, she could catch a bus to Mack. As she climb
ed out of her car and glanced back she realized a piece of her engine was lying in the street. The hunk-of-junk was literally falling apart, but she’d worry about that later. Right now she had to get to Mack.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Forty-five minutes and three bus transfers later, Elsie climbed off the bus a few blocks from the park where Mack was waiting. She flipped up her collar agaist the chill wind and mist. The familiar sensation of a million, tiny ants crawling restlessly under her skin had her fingers flexing over her knife as she scanned the area. There was a vampire near, but she had no idea where he was. Her stomach suddenly lurched and her heart twisted in her chest. Vertigo struck and she swayed on her feet. It was a feeling she had learned to identify all too well. As she waited for the premonition to hit her she realized it wasn’t merely a vampire. Something was going to happen to someone she loved.
She waited, steadying herself on a nearby tree trunk. Nothing came to her aside from a deep sense of menace. Her sight had never given her exact details, but it always identified the person tragedy was about to strike. She considered texting Mack and calling her sister, but didn’t have her phone in her pocket. Any further thought was sidetracked when a rancid odor drifted on the breeze. The vampire was hiding in the bushes behind her.
Not wasting a minute, her feet carried her further into the park. She veered toward the trees to her left. Lowering her head, she snuck a peek back to see if the vamp was following her. Nothing yet. Unwilling to risk the confrontation endangering any innocent, helpless people, she continued on her path. Soon she heard the crunch of leaves beneath heavy tread.
Her heart began racing and her palms sweating with her anxiety. The threat was breathing down her neck, despite the fact that the vampire was still yards behind her. At the first Evergreen she chanced a full look at what she was facing and her heart kicked up at what she saw. Two vampires were strolling unhurriedly toward her, confidence in their stride. Their eyes had the same eerie charcoal circle, and she wasn’t surprised by the fangs that gleamed in the moonlight when they smiled.
She shuddered and headed into the wooded area. She stopped in a small clearing and rolled her shoulders trying to displace the tension as she waited. She didn’t have to wait long.
One of the vamps with greasy blonde hair lowered his head slightly and adopted a feral grin. “You shouldn’t have come in here little girl. Run if now you want. We love a good chase. But, if you do, don’t scream, or it will be worse. Screaming will only incite us.”
She cocked her head to the side and considered her options. “Nah, I don’t think I will, but you may want to consider it yourself,” she declared as she pulled her knife from her boot.
The other vamp had black hair and he appeared cleaner and a bit saner, laughed loudly. “You’re brave. It will be fun to break you.”
The greasy blonde vamp charged toward her before brown hair finished talking. She backed up toward some big boulders, wanting something safe at her back. The thing moved fast and its claws scrapped against her forearm as she turned and ducked. Her knife hand slashed out and caught it low in the side. Red bloomed across his side and she blanched. She had never seen one bleed and it made her pause. She didn’t want to harm anyone. Mack had told her vampires were mindless killing machines, seeing the blood made her wonder if that was true.
Her inattention was a mistake as blondie managed to wrap his arms around her waist. Terror sank claws into her gut. She yanked against his hold, but she couldn’t escape his tight grip. If she didn’t get free, she wasn’t coming out of this mini-forest. She fought harder, yanking and thrashing wildly. Black hair stalked toward her and the large trees looming overhead intensified her fear and caused her fight-or-flight instinct to hit overdrive.
She began kicking out at his legs and tugging with her arm. “Oh, hell no, this is not happening to me! Stop it. No, I won’t let you do this.” There was no doubt in her mind what he meant to do to her. And, she wasn’t going down easily. She clawed at the young man’s hand, to pry it from her arm. The guy’s grip was like a vice. Trying to unbalance him, she threw her body forward and kicked. She aimed for his groin, but missed.
“Ah, ah, ah,” he crooned.
“Ugh!” Nothing was working, so she screamed for all she was worth. It may seem like she was in the middle of nowhere, but she knew all too well that there were homes and businesses close by. Surely, someone would hear her.
A hand clamped over her mouth with more strength than she would have thought. Without thinking, she bit into the flesh covering her face until she tasted foul, rotten blood. Her mouth watered and she knew her weak stomach would hurl any minute.
Her head snapped back when black hair back-handed her. She shook her head to clear the stars. The side of her face was on fire with pain. She could feel the swelling and could have sworn a baseball had hit her cheek and was now lodged under her skin. Ugh, that hurt.
“This is much better,” grease ball murmured in her ear.
She was in major trouble and struggled in earnest. The tearing of her shirt echoed loudly as she thrashed in his hold. She twisted hard and felt her bones bend and heard a pop in her shoulder. She screamed out in pain, but wasn’t giving up that easy. Trying to ignore the pain she picked up her legs, unbalancing his hold. She crawled away fast and looked back over her shoulder. The two vamps stood side by side staring at her.
“Damn, you’re fine. Good thing we’re in no hurry,” black hair leered at her exposed bra, giving her a smile that made her skin crawl and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. “I’m going to take my time and sample all of you,” he promised, evil leaking from his words.
“Leave some for me,” blondie said looking his fill.
The vampires eyed her throat and flashed their teeth at her. Black hair lunged toward her this time and instinctively, she raised her arm to protect her neck. Razors cut into her flesh as his fangs sank into her left forearm. His face was so close to hers, she smelled his stench and saw the peculiar ring around his eyes clearly. There was no life behind those evil eyes.
Using every ounce of strength she had, she brought her knee up and connected with his balls, yanking her arm free from his jaws. She went flying out of his grasp and threw out her hands before she hit the ground. The sound of a twig snapping underfoot echoed, followed immediately by intense pain radiating from her right wrist up her arm. That arm could no longer hold her weight up and she fell in a heap.
She refused to meet the same fate as Dalton. “You aren’t going to kill me, asshole. I’ve been killing slime like you for the past eighteen months!” This would end no differently.
Pushing up to stand on shaky legs, adrenaline flooded her system and drowned out some of the pain. She assumed a fighting stance with her body bladed, knees bent, and her good fist awkwardly poised in front of her, ready to strike out. Blood dripped to the dirt from her forearm. She cried out and ran toward her attacker.
*****
“I’m verra concerned about Zander,” Bhric divulged as they picked their way through the park where Mack had been waiting for Elsie.
Kyran listened to his brother, his worry for Elsie escalating. Zander had called Kyran and said that Elsie was heading their way, but he and Orlando had lost her. That boded ill given her proclivities to go searching for skirm.
“He has been worse since meeting his Fated. He hasna been feeding properly and now he is withering before our eyes.” Bhric looked to Kyran, worry on his face. “He might be the most powerful vampire in the realm, but even he canna go withoot blood that long. I havena ever seen him like this. I doona remember what he was like when mamai and da were killed, but this is bad.”
Kyran remembered all too well everything about the time their parents had been massacred. It was something that haunted him daily. They left the open area behind and headed into the trees.
“I do remember what he was like then, and I can say he is far worse now. The worst part is, we canna do anything aboot it. This situation is shite. And,
Elsie seems to be doing far worse than him right now. From what Zander and Orlando have shared, I’m worried about her, too. She is mortal—” A muffled scream cut off Kyran’s reply. He snapped to attention, opened his preternatural senses and flared his nostrils. Blood. And, skirm.
“Feel that?” Bhric whispered. His brother reached under his black, leather jacket and his hand came back shinning. Kyran slipped his own titanium sgian dubh free and held it at the ready. “That had better no’ be brathair’s Fated they are attacking. If our Queen is harmed they will rue the day they were born,” Bhric promised as they followed the magical aura and located two skirm, struggling with their victim.
Kyran winced as the female went flying and a distinct, cracking sound echoed through the clearing. The sound of female cries, along with the echo of her bones breaking, sucked Kyran back in time seven hundred fifteen years.
Thud,
Thud,
Thud.
A menacing laugh followed by a wet, tearing sound, thick and obscene, something out of a nightmare.
“Please doona hurt me,” a whispered gurgling plea. He glanced up to find his mother’s throat torn out.
Another scream jolted him out of his haunted past. An innocent female needed their protection. “You help the female, I’ll take care of them,” Kyran instructed, before he used his ability to sift. Between one blink and the next, he was crouched behind one of the attackers and had plunged his blade into the skirm’s chest. The guy flashed then turned to ash.
In the next heartbeat he was wrapping his arms around the skirm who had her pinned down and yanking him off her. He hated that the human female needed to have a mind-wipe on top of her other injuries. A red haze filled his vision as he thought of what the skirm had clearly planned to do to the female.
“Prepare to meet your maker, in hell,” he threatened in his ear.
*****
Elsie’s head swam. Black spots danced in her vision and nausea rose in her throat. That last lunge had been a mistake. She realized that she didn’t know enough about fighting, but she refused to back down. The black-haired vampire side-stepped her at the last second and wrapped his arm around her throat, throwing her to the ground. Her head smacked hard on the ground. She swallowed back the bile as he ripped her shirt open.